INOVIO, Chinese company enter deal for COVID-19 vaccine

INOVIO, a biotechnology company focusing on DNA medicines to treat and prevent infectious diseases and cancer, recently signed a collaboration and license agreement with Advaccine Biopharmaceuticals Suzhou Co. for COVID-19 DNA vaccine candidate INO-4800.

Advaccine will provide INOVIO with clinical data to support INOVIO’s global INO-4800 regulatory filings under the agreement. Advaccine will license its plasmid manufacturing process for use with INO-4800 and other INOVIO pipeline products with the right to sublicense to INOVIO’s manufacturing partners.

Advaccine will also have the exclusive right to develop, manufacture, and commercialize INO-4800 within mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

INOVIO will receive an upfront payment of $3 million and receive up to $108 million when certain sales-based milestones are achieved for the vaccine in Greater China. INOVIO will be entitled to a royalty equal to a high single-digit percentage of annual net sales in each region within Greater China.

“INOVIO’s partnership with Advaccine enables us to leverage their deep expertise, capabilities, and network across the region – making it possible to rapidly produce and, if and when approved, distribute our vaccine candidate to more people across Greater China,” INOVIO President and CEO J. Joseph Kim said. “This agreement also provides INOVIO with an Asian manufacturing partner with a near-term focus on INO-4800 and a long-term manufacturing resource potentially for other INOVIO products.”